Automatic Routing of Search Results

ABSTRACT

In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for providing search results automatically to a user of a computing device. A spoken input provided by a user to a computing device is received. The spoken input is transmitted to a computer server system that is remote from the computing device. Search result information that is responsive to the spoken input is receiving by the computing device and in response to the transmitted spoken input. An alert is provided to the user that the device will connect the user to a target of the search result information if the user does not intervene to stop the connecting of the user. The user is connected to the target of the search result information based on a determination that the user has not intervened to stop the connecting of the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/852,221, filed Aug. 6, 2010, titled “Automatic Routing Using SearchResults,” which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/346,893, filed on May 20, 2010, entitled “Automatic Dialing ofSearch Results.” The entire contents of the prior applications arehereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document generally describes techniques, methods, systems, andmechanisms for automatically handling special search results, such as byautomatically calling telephone numbers relating to internet searchresults or by automatically directing a user to a web page that is thetarget of a search result.

BACKGROUND

A mobile computing device, for example, an application telephone, mayestablish data communication with voice networks and with server systemsthat are connected to the mobile computing device via the internet. Themobile computing device can submit search queries to a search engineover the internet, and receive in response search results. In someinstances, the search results can be selected by the search engine basedon a location of the mobile computing device.

A user of the mobile computing device may also user the device to dial atelephone service over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) thatprovides a speech recognition-based business directory search. Forexample, the user may verbally submit a voice query to the telephoneservice using the mobile computing device, and may verbally hear asearch result in response. The telephone service may connect the user toa telephone number for a search result if the user does not provide averbal indication that the user would like to hear additional searchresults.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure generally relates to automatically handlingspecial types of search results, such as by automatically callingtelephone numbers relating to certain internet search results (e.g.,those directed to particular businesses) or by automatically directing auser's browser to a web page that corresponds to a search result (e.g.,when the result is very highly correlated to a search query from auser).

In other words, this document describes techniques, methods, systems,and mechanisms for automatically handling certain types of searchresults, including by calling telephone numbers relating to internetsearch results or automatically directing a web browser to a web pagefor a particular result. In general, a user of a computing device mayinput a query (e.g., a voice query or a textual query) using thecomputing device, and may submit the query to a search engine system ina familiar manner. The search engine system may receive the query,identify a geographical location of interest (e.g., an estimatedgeographical location of the computing device or a location specified inthe query) or a web page or pages, and may provide to the computingdevice a local search result in the form of a telephone number or one ormore results that correspond to landing web pages for the results.

The computing device may initiate a call using the returned telephonenumber automatically by displaying information about the organization tobe called and providing a warning that the number will be dialedautomatically if the user does not manually intervene. Where the mostrelevant result is determined to be a web page, the device may similarlyautomatically direct the user's browser or other web viewing applicationto the page. In either instance, the device may delay for a period whileindicating to the user that it is going to make the call or go to thepage automatically if the user does not intervene by the end of acountdown period, and may also give the user a control to select (orphrase to speak) to prevent such automatic redirection of the user.

In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in thisspecification can be embodied in a computer-implemented method forautomatic telephone calling. The method includes receiving a query at aserver system and from a computing device that is remote from the serversystem. The method includes determining whether the query is for causingthe remote computing device to call a telephone number automatically.The method includes providing the query to a particular search enginesystem. The method includes receiving from a particular search enginesystem one or more search results that are responsive to the receivedquery. The method includes providing a particular telephone number thatcorresponds to a most prominently ranked of the one or more searchresults from the search engine system and to the remote computingdevice, so as to cause the remote computing device to call theparticular telephone number automatically.

Another aspect of the subject matter described in this specification canbe embodied in a computer-implemented method for automatic telephonecalling. The method includes providing a query by a computing device andto a server system that is remote from the computing device, so as tocause the remote server system to receive from a search engine systemone or more search results that are responsive to the received query.The method includes receiving from the server system a telephone numberthat corresponds to a most prominently ranked of the one or more searchresults. The method includes in response to receiving the telephonenumber, automatically calling the telephone number. Automaticallycalling the telephone number includes presenting on the computing devicea description of the most prominently ranked search result.

In yet another aspect of the subject matter described in thisspecification, a system for automatic telephone calling includes a queryhandler, at a computing device, programmed to receive user-inputselecting a graphical interface element that is for transmitting auser-input query to a server system that is remote to the computingdevice, and to transmit the user-input query to the server system inresponse to receiving the user-input. The system includes a locationidentifier, at the server system, programmed to identify a location thatis provided to the server system in or with the query. The systemincludes a particular search engine, at the server system, programmed toreceive the query and determine search results that are relevant to thequery and are geographically-constrained based on the location, whereinthe search results are ranked. The system includes an automatic callerprogrammed to receive a telephone number for a most-prominently rankedof the search results, and automatically call the telephone numberwithout receiving user-input subsequent to the transmission of theuser-input query to the server system.

Another aspect of the subject matter described in this specification maybe embodied in a computer-implemented method of providing search resultsautomatically to a user of a computing device. The method includesreceiving a spoken input provided by a user to a computing device. Themethod includes transmitting the spoken input to a computer serversystem that is remote from the computing device. The method includesreceiving by the computing device and in response to the transmittedspoken input, search result information that is responsive to the spokeninput. The method includes providing an alert to the user, by thecomputing device, that the device will connect the user to a target ofthe search result information if the user does not intervene to stop theconnecting of the user. The method includes connecting the user to thetarget of the search result information based on a determination thatthe user has not intervened to stop the connecting of the user.

These and other implementations can optionally include one or more ofthe following features. The received query may include recorded voiceinformation. The voice information may be converted, by the serversystem, into textual form such that the query that is provided to theparticular search engine system is in textual form. The particularsearch engine system may be a geographical search engine system thatreceives (i) a query, and (ii) a location, and returns ageographically-constrained listing of search results that correspond tovenues that are responsive to the query and are geographically near thelocation. The location may be an estimated geographical location of theremote computing device as determined by the remote computing deviceusing information encoded in wireless signals that identifies one ormore remote transmitting devices.

Determining whether the query is for causing the remote computing deviceto call a telephone number automatically may include determining whetherthe query includes a predefined carrier phrase. Providing the query tothe particular search engine system may be performed in response to adetermination that the query includes the predefined carrier phrase. Theserver system may be configured to provide the query to a differentsearch engine system if the query is determined to not include thepredefined carrier phrase. Calling the particular telephone numberautomatically may include presenting on the remote computing device ananimated timing display and calling, by the remote computing device, theparticular telephone number at substantially a termination of theanimated timing display. The query may be received in response to auser-selection of a query button at the mobile computing device. Thequery button may cause the mobile computing device to transmit the queryto the server system.

Automatically calling the telephone number may include presenting on thecomputing device, without receiving user-input at the computing devicesubsequent to receiving the telephone number, a prompt to call thetelephone number. The prompt may enable a user to cause the computingdevice to dial the telephone number with a single-action user input.Automatically calling the telephone number may include presenting on thecomputing device, without receiving user-input subsequent to receivingthe telephone number, an animated timing display and dialing theparticular telephone number at an expiration of the animated timingdisplay. During the presentation of the animated timing display, thecomputing device may not present telephone numbers that correspond tothe one or more search results.

Automatically calling the telephone number may include presenting, atthe computing device and concurrent with the animated timing display, abutton to cancel the dialing of the particular telephone number at theexpiration of the animated timing display. The computing device may beconfigured to present descriptions of other of the search results inresponse to a user-selection of the button to cancel the automaticdialing. The automatic calling of the telephone number may be performedby the computing device and may include a dialing of the telephonenumber by the computing device while the computing device is notpresently connected to another computing device in a duplex telephoneconversation. The computing device may receive user-input defining thequery. The query may be provided to the server system in response to auser-selection of a query button that causes the query to be transmittedto the server system.

The system may include a search result ranker that is programmed toassign, for the most-prominently ranked of the search results, theranking based at least in-part on comparing a present time to data thatindicates hours of operation for a venue that corresponds to themost-prominently ranked of the search results. The system may include asearch result ranker that is programmed to assign, for themost-prominently ranked of the search results, the ranking based atleast in-part on user-input provided by multiple users, other than auser of the computing device, to cancel an automatic dialing of thetelephone number. The automatic dialing of the telephone numberperformed by automatic callers that are each programmed to receive aparticular telephone number for a most-prominently ranked of searchresults that are received in response to a query, and to automaticallycall the particular telephone number.

The system may include a search result ranker that is programmed toassign, for the most-prominently ranked of the search results, theranking based at least in part on whether the computing device, or auser of the computing device, has previously called the telephonenumber. The system may include a second search engine, at the serversystem, that is programmed to receive the query and determine searchresults that are relevant to the query. The system may include a querytype identifier to determine whether the query is to be provided to theparticular search engine system or the second search engine system. Thecomputing device may not automatically call a telephone numbercorresponding to a most-prominently ranked of search results that arereceived from the second search engine.

The spoken input may include a carrier phrase and a query parameter. Thequery parameter may be submitted to a search engine system to generatethe search result information. The carrier phrase may be used to selecta search engine system, from among a plurality of search enginesub-systems, to which the query parameter is to be submitted. Providingan alert to the user may include providing a timed countdown, at the endof which the connecting of the user is to occur automatically. Thesearch result information may include a telephone number that isresponsive to a query parameter in the spoken input. Connecting the userto the target may include automatically dialing the telephone numberusing the device. The search result information may include a uniformresource locator for a web site that is responsive to a query parameterin the spoken input. Connecting the user to the target may includeautomatically redirecting a web-navigating application to the web site.The user may be provided with an option to cancel automatic connectionto the target of the search result information. The user may bedisplayed, in response to receiving a user input to cancel the automaticconnection, the user information responsive to the spoken input thatdoes not correspond to the target of the search result information.

Particular embodiments can be implemented, in certain instances, torealize one or more of the following advantages. Mobile computing deviceusers may initiate a call to a business entity without knowing atelephone number for the business entity, or in some instances a name orlocation of the business entity. Similarly, users may be taken to a webpage in response to a voice input without having to actively select asearch result from among multiple search results. A level of user-inputneeded to search for a business entity and telephone the business entityor go to an entity's web site may be reduced, saving user time andincreasing user convenience.

An unknown telephone number may be called, or a web page whose URL isunknown may be visited, by inputting a voice query without any physicaluser-input, or with a minimal amount of physical user-input (wherephysical input is input other than spoken input, such as contacting atouchscreen or pressing physical buttons on a telephone). A propriety ofa selected search result may be passively acknowledged by a userperforming no actions during a calling or redirect countdown. If a useris not interested in a selected search result, canceling the call orredirection may present a list of alternative search result suggestions.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features, objects, andadvantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a mobile computing deviceautomatically calling a telephone number relating to a search result, orautomatically directing a browser to a web site relating to the query.

FIG. 2 is a swim lane diagram of an example process for automaticallycalling a telephone number for a search result.

FIGS. 3A-F are example screenshots displayed in a process forautomatically calling a search result.

FIGS. 3G-3H are screenshots of processes for automatically redirecting auser of a computing device in response to spoken submission of a query.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot displayed in a process for automatically callinga search result.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot of a user interface that enables a user to submita query.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example system for automatically callinga telephone number for a search result.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example process for automatic calling of asocial contact.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of a system that may be used to implementthe systems and methods described in this document

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of computing devices that may be used toimplement the systems and methods described in this document, as eithera client or as a server or plurality of servers.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This document generally describes automatic calling of telephone numbersand automatic direction to web sites that are related to internet searchresults. A user of a computing device may use the computing device tosubmit a query to a search engine system. The search engine system maydetermine one or more search results that are responsive to the queryand provide information identifying the one or more search results tothe computing device. In response to receiving the informationidentifying the one or more search results, the computing device maydetermine that a particular telephone number or web site is highlycorrelated to the query and one result, and may automatically initiate acall with a telephone number that corresponds to a received searchresult or automatically direct the user to a landing page for a receivedresult.

FIG. 1 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a mobile computing deviceautomatically calling a telephone number relating to a search result, orautomatically directing a browser to a web site relating to the query.As an illustration, the mobile computing device 102 may first receive avoice query from a user of the mobile computing device. For example, theuser may select a “microphone” icon that is depicted on a touchscreen ofthe mobile telephone, and speak the phrase “Call Pizza Place.”Alternatively, the user may speak “Wikipedia fast fourier transform” or“visit Wikipedia fast fourier transform.” A digital representation ofthe spoken phrase may be stored at the mobile computing device andtransmitted, as query 104 and after completion of the recording, over anetwork and to the frontend server system 108. An estimated geographicallocation 106 of the mobile computing device (e.g., latitude andlongitude coordinates that are determined using signals from GlobalPositioning System satellites) may be sent with the query 104 in certaincircumstances.

The frontend server system 108 receives the query 104 and converts thedigital representation of the spoken phrase to a textual representationof the spoken phrase, for example, using a voice recognition system. Thefrontend server system then determines if the query 104 (now in textualform) includes a carrier phrase (e.g., one or more words) thatidentifies the query as designated for unique treatment. In thisillustration, the query includes the carrier phrase “Call” or“Wikipedia” or “visit” as the first word of the query 104. Thus, thequery is flagged for unique treatment, which may result in the query 104being routed to a different search engine and the mobile computingdevice 102 automatically calling a telephone number for a search resultthat is responsive to the query 104.

The determination that a carrier phrase is present may be made bycomparing the first word of a converted query to a whitelist ofcandidate carrier phrases, that are intended by the system to triggerparticular actions with subsequent input provided by the user. Theparticular available carrier phrases may be made available to users sothat they may know how best to interact with the system, though certaincarrier phrases may be selected so that they are so intuitive that auser can naturally figure out how to use them without any explicitinstruction. In some examples, the carrier phrases relate to particulargeneral verb-based commands such as “call.” In others, the carrierphrase can be a list of nouns, such as the names of the Fortune 500companies, the names of the top 100 websites, and the like.

Where the query 104 is designated for unique treatment consistent withlocation-based search, the query 104 and the location 106 are routed tothe local search engine 110 instead of the general search engine 112(e.g., the query may not be provided to both search engines, though inother instances, it could be provided to both). In some examples, thequery carrier phrase is removed from the query before providing thequery to the local search engine 110. The local search engine 110 maydetermine search results that are responsive to both the query 104 andthe location 106, and that may be geographically constrained based onthe location 106. One or more of the responsive search results 114 maybe provided back to the frontend server system 108, which may forwardthe one or more search results 114 to the mobile computing device 102.The one or more search results 114 may be ranked by their relevance tothe query 104 and the location 106.

The mobile computing device 102 receives the one or more search results114 and selects, from a most prominently ranked of the search results114, a telephone number for the most prominently ranked of the searchresults. The mobile telephone automatically calls the selected telephonenumber, for example, by initiating a process to dial the selectedtelephone number. As an illustration, the mobile computing device maydisplay the telephone number to be called and warn the user that thetelephone number will be dialed if the user does not cancel the callwithin a determined amount of time. The display may also include a namefor the corresponding search result, a physical address related thecorresponding search result, or a website address related to thecorresponding search result.

Where the automatic activity involves directing the user to a web pagerather than dialing a telephone number, similar feedback may be providedto the user, and the user may have similar ways to deal with thefeedback (e.g., to wait and let the redirection occur automatically, tocancel the redirection and do something else like look at a list of allsearch results, or to trigger the redirection immediately). Forillustrative purposes, much of the discussion here centers on automaticdialing examples, though additional discussion is provided in placeswith respect to the automatic redirection examples, including FIGS. 3Hand 3I below.

In another example of automatic calling, the mobile telephone 102presents a prompt that invokes an ability of a user of the mobilecomputing device to dial the telephone number. As an illustration adialog box that includes a display of the telephone number, a “Call”button, and a “Cancel” button may be presented. The telephone number,however, may not be dialed—causing the mobile computing device toconnect to another computing device over the PSTN—without user-inputexplicitly selecting the “Call” button.

In some examples, if the query that is provided to the frontend serversystem 108 does not include the “Call” carrier phrase, the query is sentto the general search engine 112 instead of the local search engine 110.The general search engine 112 may return search results to the mobiletelephone 102, but return of the search results may not cause the mobiletelephone 102 to automatically call a telephone number. For example, adisplay for each of the returned search results may be presented in alist or audibly output to the user with synthesized voice. Thus, a userof the mobile telephone 102 may use a single query input mechanism(e.g., a single selectable interface element) to: (i) submit generalqueries that result in a visual display of a list of search results; and(ii) submit queries that invoke the mobile computing device toautomatically call a telephone number for a prominently ranked searchresult.

In yet other implementations, a query that does not include the “call”carrier phrase can be examined in order to determine whether it shouldbe treated as a location-based query. Various techniques may be used tomake such a determination, such as by training a system with priorqueries that are known to have been location-based in order to identifyterms and phrases that are directed to location, and then comparing asubsequently-received query to the model that results from suchtraining, in order to produce an indicator of whether thesubsequently-received query is likely to be directed to a location. Forexample, terms like “food” and “restaurant” may be determined toindicate a location-based query, since they are frequently employed byusers who are trying to find a place to eat in the near future in theirvicinity. When such a determination is made, such queries may be treatedlike those that are preceded by a “call” carrier phrase discussed above.

In addition to the result of the process shown by arrow 6 in the figurebeing the calling of a telephone number, the result may alternatively bethe jumping or redirection of an application on the device 102 to a webpage that is, for example, a landing page that corresponds to a searchresult (i.e., the web page that is provided when a user clicks on asearch result in a list of search results). For example, if the generalsearch server system 112 determines that a particular query is highlycorrelated to a particular search results and/or that the “score” orother indicator of quality for the first search result is substantiallyhigher than that for the second-best result, the general search serversystem 112 may cause the frontend server system to provide mark-up codeto the device 102 that causes the landing page for the top result to bedisplayed immediately (i.e., redirects the device 102 to the landingpage without displaying the search results on device 102) or causes thesearch results to be displayed and causes the device 102 to beautomatically redirected to the landing page for the top result after apredetermined countdown time period if the user does not provide aninput to stop such automatic redirection. In this way, a user can beshown the top search result and taken to it without the user having toprovide any further input after submitting the query. In variousexamples, a particular search result may have a high score if users thatview a list of search results in response to a query select theparticular search result more frequently than other of the searchresults.

Although particular examples are shown here, of automatically dialing atelephone number responsive to a query and automatically directing adevice to a landing page that is responsive to a query, other categoriesmay also be identified using the techniques described here and may behandled automatically in similar manners. When a spoken query isreceived, the text for the query may be analyzed in a step-wise orhierarchical process that applies rules to the text to determine whetherthe query corresponds to a particular category, such as a landing pageor a business telephone number. For example, a particular carrier phrasemay be correlated to a particular category of results, or a propercategory may be identified by checking a series of lists for a match tosome text in a query, where each list corresponds to a category, and theorder in which the lists are checked may be in a decreasing frequencywith which each category is the subject of a spoken query.

Thus, for example, a textual representation of a spoken input may bereceived, and the first word or words can be checked first against alist of specific commands (e.g., “call”) and if a match is found in thatcategory, the system may execute the identified command, such as byidentifying a telephone number that corresponds to the remainder of thequery. If there is no matching command, the system may then checkwhether a particular search result has a very high score, and institutean automatic redirection of a device to the landing page for thatresult. Other categories may subsequently be checked, and an action canbe selected that is defined for the particular category. Other suchactions could be the execution of a command on a particular applicationon a device, such as the playing of an audio or video file with a mediaplayer, the execution of a mathematical function with a calculator, andthe like.

FIG. 2 is a swim lane diagram of an example process for automaticallycalling a telephone number for a search result. In general, the processinvolves identifying a search result for a query that has associatedwith it a telephone number (e.g., by analyzing a home page for a resultand locating a telephone number there or by keeping a structure list oftelephone numbers that are correlated to particular business locations,such as by having businesses submit profile information to a service).In other examples, a business web site may be identified instead of, orin addition to, a business telephone number, and the device may beautomatically directed to the web site using user interface mechanismssimilar to those for automatically dialing a business. Also, the devicemay dial a business and show a web landing page for the businesssubstantially simultaneously.

The process of FIG. 2 may be implemented by the systems illustrated inFIGS. 1, 6, 8, and 9, and may cause the screenshots of FIGS. 3A-5 to begenerated for display on a computing device.

In box 202, a device location is optionally determined by the computingdevice. For example, a location-identification mechanism may identify anestimated geographical position of the computing device using wirelesssignals from electronic transmitters (e.g., GPS satellites or cellulartowers). Triangulation methods may be employed to determine theestimated geographical position of the mobile device and an accuracy ofthe position determination. The estimated geographical position may berepresented by latitude and longitude coordinates. In some examples, theestimated geographical position is determined based on Wi-Fi signals, ora user “check-in” to a location. In various examples, a series ofestimated geographical positions are determined, and each of thepositions are provided to a frontend server system as regular positionupdates.

In box 204, the computing device receives user-input of a query. Forexample, a user of the computing device may select a search box and, inresponse to focus being provided to the search box, type a text queryinto the search box using a virtual or physical keyboard. Upon enteringthe text query, the user may select a query button to submit the queryto a server system. Alternatively, the user may select a voice querybutton (e.g., a virtual or physical button) that invokes the computingdevice to record audio with a microphone. The search box or voice querybutton may each allow the user to either (i) receive and display a listof search results that are responsive to the query, or (ii)automatically call a telephone number for a search result, depending onthe query content (e.g., whether the query includes a carrier phrase).In various examples, the query buttons are not buttons that are used toplace a telephone call (e.g., buttons that are labeled with thecharacters 0-9 and a “talk” button). In some examples, the queryincludes a user-input location, as discussed in more detail below.

In box 206, the query is sent to the frontend server system. Forexample, after the user has entered a textual query, the user may selectan interface element that is displayed proximate to the query box andthat depicts the words “Go” or “Search.” Selection of the interfaceelement may invoke the computing device to transmit the textual query tothe frontend server system. In examples where the user has recorded avoice query, upon pressing a button to terminate recording, or upon thecomputing device automatically ceasing to record after the user hasfinished speaking, data encoding the spoken voice query may betransmitted to the frontend server system. Both transmissions of thequery may be performed independent of a telephone call in which twotelephones are connected for duplex voice communication.

In some examples, the computing device may send the estimatedgeographical position of the computing device along with the query. Forexample, latitude and longitude coordinates may accompany the queryrequest to the frontend server system, or the computing device may havepreviously provided the coordinates to the frontend server system (e.g.,as a semi-regular stream of location updates). In some examples, thequery that was input by the user includes geographical positioninformation. For example, a query for the phrase “Call Pizza Places nearTimes Square” includes the position information “Times Square.”

In box 208, the frontend server system has received the query anddetermines if the query is for automatically calling a telephone numberof a search result. In some examples, the query is determined to be forautomatic calling if the query includes a predetermined word. Forexample, the predetermined word may be a carrier phrase that was userinput, and is inline with the rest of the words in the query. Thecarrier phrase may be at the beginning or end of the query. As anillustration, the queries “Call Gas Station,” “Phone Pharmacy,” “MobilePhone . . . Dial . . . Nearest Bookstore,” and “Large Taxi CompaniesAuto-Dial” all include carrier phrases (underlined in these examples).

In various examples, the query is identified as for automatic calling ofa telephone number for a search result based on an indication receivedfrom the computing device. For example, the computing device may havedetermined that the query included a carrier phrase, removed the carrierphrase from the query, and provided, with the query and to the frontendserver system, an indication that the query is for a automatic callingof a telephone number of a search result. In various examples, the queryis sent to the server system in response to user selection of agraphical interface element that is specifically for submitting queriesthat are for automatic calling telephone numbers. In such examples, thequeries may be sent to the frontend server system with an indicationthat the query is for automatic calling of a telephone number, or may bedirected to a Uniform Resource Location address that is designatedsolely for receiving queries that are for automatically calling atelephone number of a search result. Thus, the server system mayimplicitly know that the received query is for automatic calling atelephone number.

If the query is not for automatically calling a telephone number, thequery may be provided to a general search system (box 210, discussed inmore detail later). If the query is determined to be for automaticallycalling a telephone number, the query may be provided to a local searchsystem (also referred to as a geographical search system).

In box 212, a local search system determines search results that areresponsive to the query. The local search system may a search engine isconfigured to provide search results that are relevant to a query thatis accompanied by location information. In some examples, the locationis sent along with the query as coordinates of an estimated geographicallocation of the computing device. In other examples, the location isdetermined from the content of the query. As an illustration, in thequery “Call Drycleaner near my Home,” the location “Home” may beidentified as being location information, and a geographical locationfor “Home” may be determined from settings stored for the user thatsubmitted the query.

In some examples, the local search system searches through a corpus ofrecords that are each associated with a venue (e.g., a business entityor a place) that has a geographic position. For example, each record maybe a structured set of fields and include a field for storing a locationfor a venue that is referenced by the record. In various examples, everyrecord in the corpus for the local search system may include ageographical location. In some examples, each of the records isassociated with a webpage that is stored and presented by a singleinformation provider. In other words, the records may not eachcorrespond to websites that are provided by a variety of informationproviders and are accessible across the internet. Search results may beconstructed based on information in records.

The local search system may use the geographical location to assign aweight value to search results. For example, the search system be ableto access many search results that are responsive to the query “Pizza,”but may assign a greater weight value to search results that reference alocation that is closer to the location provided in or with the query.In some examples, a set of search results that are weighted is selectedbased on the search results' referenced distance from the geographicallocation provided in or with the query. As an illustration, searchresults that reference locations that are not in a same city, or thatare more than fifty miles away from the geographical location, may beexcluded from the list of weighted search results.

The weight value for search results may be modified by multiple otherfactors (e.g., a prevalence of query terms in content that is stored fora search result, and a popularity of the search result as selected byusers querying a search engine).

The local search system may select a group of responsive search resultsbased on the weight values assigned to the search results. In someexamples, only search results that have corresponding telephone numbersare selected by the local search system for inclusion in the group.

Each search result may include information identifying a telephonenumber for a corresponding real-world venue, and any combination of (i)a name for the venue, (ii) a physical address for the venue, (iii) adescription for the venue, (iv) an email address for the venue, (v) awebsite for the venue, and (iv) a picture of the venue.

In box 214, one or more of the search results are sent to the computingdevice. The search results may be sent directly to the computing device,or may be sent through the frontend server (see box 216). In someexamples, a single search result that is determined to be most relevantto the query is provided to the computing device (e.g., the highestweighted search result is provided). In other examples, multiple searchresults may be provided to the computing device. The multiple searchresults may be ranked by any combination of the local search system,frontend server, or computing device. A rank may include informationidentifying a sequential numbering of the search results or informationidentifying a scoring of each of the search results.

In box 218, the computing device receives the one or more search resultsand identifies a telephone number that corresponds to one of the searchresults (e.g., the most highly ranked search result). For example, wherea single search result is returned, the telephone number for the singlesearch result is identified. In examples where multiple search resultsare returned, a telephone number for a most highly ranked or scoredsearch result may be identified. In some examples all the search resultsthat are sent to the computing device include telephone numbers. In someexamples, one or more of the search results do not include telephonenumbers, and the identified telephone number may for the highest rankedor scored search result that has a corresponding telephone number.

In box 220, the computing device automatically calls the identifiedtelephone number. For example, a timer may be presented for display onthe computing device (box 222). If the timer expires without thecomputing device receiving user-input that interrupts the process ofautomatically calling the identified telephone number (e.g., byselecting a “Cancel” interface element or physical button), thecomputing device calls the identified telephone number. In variousexamples, the timer counts down or up to timer expiration. In variousexamples, the amount of time before the timer expires varies based onscoring of the most-prominently ranked search result (e.g., an absolutevalue or a difference from the next-most-prominently ranked score). Forexample, the timer may not be displayed and the call may automaticallybe dialed for search results that are particularly relevant.

In box 224, the automatic calling of the telephone number includesgenerating for display a prompt to call the telephone number. The promptmay include a “Dial” button that, when selected, causes the computingdevice to call the telephone number. For example, in response to sendingthe query, the computing device may present a pop up box withuser-selectable buttons for dialing the telephone number or forcancelling the call (e.g., removing the pop up box). In this example,the telephone may not dial the telephone number to establish voicecommunication without receiving user input, but may instead requireexplicit user-input selecting a dial button.

In various examples, automatic calling of the telephone number includesdisplaying, on the computing device, any combination of the telephonenumber, a name for a corresponding venue, and an address. In someexamples, a single telephone number and information corresponding to thesingle telephone number are displayed on the screen of the computingdevice. The computing device may not, in such examples, displaytelephone numbers or names of other venues.

In box 226, the telephone number is dialed. The operations of box 226may be performed if the user selected the dial button (box 224) or thetimer expires without receiving user-input cancelling the call (box222). Dialing the telephone number may include providing a series ofdigits (e.g., a telephone number standardized by the TelecommunicationStandardization Sector (ITU-T) in the recommendation E.164) in order toestablish a duplex voice communication with another computerized device.In some examples, dialing the telephone number includes connecting thecomputing device to another computing device over a Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) network.

In box 228, telephone numbers for additional search results areoptionally displayed if the cancel button is selected (see box 224).Thus, if a user decides that he does not want to call a telephone numberthat is automatically being called, he may select the cancel button andview a list of other relevant search results. The user may select any ofthe search results to call the corresponding telephone number or to viewadditional information.

In some examples, upon selecting the cancel button, other search resultsare not displayed and the pop up box is removed from the display. Invarious examples, upon expiration of the timer, the other search resultsare displayed (box 228), and the user must select a “Call” button duringthe countdown to call the identified telephone number. Thus, thecountdown may be an opt-in period for calling the telephone number. Insuch examples, the user may select the “Call” button before the timerexpires to prevent the other search results from being displayed.

In various examples, between a time when the computing device providesthe search query to the server system and a time when the telephonenumber is dialed by the computing device, no additional user input isreceived at the computing device. In various examples, between a timewhen the computing device receives the one or more search results fromthe server system and a time when the telephone number is dialed, noadditional user input is received.

Now returning to a discussion of box 210, if the query is determined tonot be for automatically calling a telephone number of a search result,the query may be provided to a general search system (in distinction tothe local search system), and the general search system may determineresponsive search results. The general search engine system query acorpus of records for documents that may not all have associatedgeographical locations. In various examples, the general search enginesystem provides search results that are particular to multiple types ofmedia (e.g., videos, pictures, and products).

Although not illustrated in the swim-line diagram of FIG. 2, the searchresults that are determined by the general search system may be providedto the computing device for display. In response to receiving multiplesearch results from the general search system, the computing device maydisplay, in visual depiction of multiple search results, content formultiple search results and may not initiate a process to call atelephone number for any of the multiple search results. Indeed, one ormore of the multiple search results may not include a telephone number(in contrast to the search results provided by the local search system,which may all include telephone numbers). In other words, a query thatis determined to be for automatically calling a telephone number maycause the computing device to initiate a telephone call to a singletelephone number, while a query that is determined to not be forautomatically calling a telephone number may cause the computing deviceto display a visual list of multiple search results.

The operations performed by the methods of FIG. 2 reference a query thatis passed from the computing device to the frontend server and to thelocal search system. In some examples, the query may change as it ispassed between these computing devices. For example, the query that istransmitted to the frontend server system may be a digitalrepresentation of audio that includes a carrier phrase and query terms,the frontend server may transform the digital representation of audiointo textual alphanumeric words that include the carrier phrase and thequery terms, and the local search system may receive a textual querythat includes the query terms with the carrier phrase removed. Thisdocument may refer to these multiple representations as simply a“query.” Additionally, and for clarity in the description, this documentdiscusses both the transmission and display of “search results,” eventhrough a transmitted search result includes computer-readable data thatis in a digitally encoded format, while a display of a search resultincludes a visual depiction of the data on a screen.

In various examples, the boxes 218-226 are performed by a server systemcalling service (e.g., GOOGLE VOICE). In other words, the computingdevice may send a query for processing by a server system, and theserver system may send the identified telephone number to the callingservice. The calling service may initiate the telephone call between thecomputing device and a device that corresponds to the identifiedtelephone number.

In various examples, the concepts described in this document in relationto automatically calling telephone numbers may be applied to other formsof communication. These other forms of communication include email, textmessaging, voicemail messages, instant messaging, and VoIP calls. Forexample, a user querying “Email High School” may see an emailapplication program invoked on a computing device, where a message hasbeen generated and preaddressed to an email address for a particularschool, as determined to be by a search system. Thus, a query and alocation may be transmitted from a computing device to a remote serversystem, which returns to the computing device email addresses for one ormore search results. The computing device may generate an emailcomposition window where the email is preaddressed to the most-highlyranked search result.

In various examples, the email may include content from the query. Forexample, the query “Email High School Message John Doe will be late forclass today,” may result in the computing device composing an emailmessage that is addressed to an email address for a particular highschool, and includes as the subject or body of the email the content“John Doe will be late for class today.”

In various examples, the email may be automatically transmitted eitherimmediately or upon expiration of a visually depicted timer. In variousexamples, a prompt similar to the prompt in FIG. 3D may be displayed,requesting user input before a message that is addressed to theparticular high school is composed. Similar operations are performed forthe text messaging form of communication, for example, in response to auser stating “Text Pizza Place Message Large Sausage Pizza to Como ParkASAP.”

In various examples, a query that is directed to any of the variousforms of communication may include the computing device searching forlocal search results. For example, a query for “Phone John's Bike Shop”may include first searching a list of contacts that are stored for theuser of the computing device to see if any of the contacts are named“John's Bike Shop.” In some examples, a search result that is identifiedby a remote server system may be more highly ranked if the search resultis related to a contact that is stored for the user of the computingdevice (e.g., if the search result and a contact that is stored for theuser may share a telephone number or physical address).

FIGS. 3A-F are example screenshots displayed in a process forautomatically calling a search result. The dialog box 302 that isillustrated in FIG. 3A may be presented with user interface contentdisplayed in the background (e.g., the region surrounding the dialog box302). The dialog box 302 may be displayed in response to user selectionof an icon for initiating a voice query. The screenshot displayed inFIG. 3B illustrates that the user has stated “call pizza my heart inpalo alto” (this text may not be displayed on the computing devicescreen, however, as the user speaks).

FIG. 3C illustrates a “working” dialog box 306 that may be presented inresponse to receiving the user's spoken query. In various examples, the“working” dialog box 306 is presented after the computing device hassent the query to the server system and while the computing device isawaiting one or more responsive search queries.

FIG. 3D illustrates a dialog box 308 that is presented on the computingdevice once a search result has been received at the computing device asresponsive to the voice query. The dialog box 308 may presentinformation for a single search result (e.g., the search result that isthe most relevant to the query). As illustrated in FIG. 3D, the user mayselect the “Dial” interface element 310 to dial the telephone number forthe “Pizza My Heart” restaurant that is located in Palo Alto. Also, theuser may select the “Cancel” interface element 312 to remove the dialogbox 308 from display. The dialog box 308 includes search result content,for example, a search result name 314, a search result address 316, anda search result telephone number 318. In various examples, the dialogbox 308 is static and the user must press the dial button 310 in orderto call the telephone number 318.

FIGS. 3E and 3F illustrate dialog boxes 320 and 322 in which thetelephone number “650-327-9400” will be dialed by the computing deviceif the user does not select the cancel interface element 312 within adetermined amount of time. In this example, an animated countdown timerillustrates an amount of time that is left until the telephone numberwill be dialed by sweeping the dialog box with a new color in aclockwise motion. When the timer terminates (e.g., when the screen isfully filled with the color and the animation terminates or it isapparent to a user that the timer has completed) the computing devicedials the telephone number.

FIGS. 3G-3H are screenshots of processes for automatically redirecting auser of a computing device in response to spoken submission of a query.In FIG. 3G, a display of a list of search results is shown on a device.In this example, the user has spoken the term “general motors” into thedevice as a query, and the listed results are the results that weredetermined to be most responsive to the query. A first result 330 is alink to the General Motors Corporation web site. It is a fairly dead onmatch for the query, and the system that served the results may havedetermined that it is a high-quality result via various mechanisms. Forexample, the system may have observed that other users who previouslysubmitted the query or similar queries frequently (a high percentage ofthe time relative to other results) clicked on the result. The systemmay also have recognized that the query was navigational in character,and thus aimed at finding a particular site, as opposed to finding ageneral answer to a question. In addition, the system may notice thatthe URL for the site correlates closely to the query, and thus makes itmore likely that the site is an intended destination for the user. Otherresults, such as result 336 were determined to be less relevant by thesystem.

The search system, which may be a server system remote from the device,may thus have returned the results along with code to permit anautomatic redirection of the device to the General Motors landing page.That code is reflected in the figure by two user interface elements 332and 334. First, a countdown alert box 332 is shown, and alerts the userthat the device will be redirected to the landing page in X seconds(where the number changes downward each second until the redirectionoccurs). The alert box 332 may not be selectable by the user. Second, acancel control 334 is provided in the form of a user-selectable button.If the user selects the control 334 before the countdown ends, both UIelements 332 and 334 may be removed from the display, and the searchresults will collapse around the area formerly occupied by the elements,so that the user will be able to see more of the search results. Also,the first result may optionally be removed from the display, if it isbelieved to be fair to assume that the user's action cancelling theredirection indicates a disinterest in the first result. The user couldachieve a similar result simply by saying the word “cancel,” so that allof the options here could be made available in a hands-free, voice-onlyenvironment.

The user may also choose to be taken to the first result by clicking onthe link for the first result, in a typical manner, and thus need notwait for the countdown. However, the countdown may provide an advantageof taking the user directly to the landing page without requiring manualinput from the user, while still allowing the user to opt out of theautomatic redirection. In various examples, the mobile telephone may notbe visible to the user. Thus, the countdown may be audibly output, forexample, by the mobile telephone stating with synthesized voice“Redirecting you to the ‘General Motors Corporate Website,’ say ‘Cancel’to instead hear a list of search results.”

FIG. 3H shows successive displays relating to automatic redirection to aweb site using, at least in part, a carrier phrase that identifies theweb site. Display 340 shows an on-screen display and a simultaneousquery spoken by a user of a mobile computing device. The query includesa carrier phrase, which identifies a web site to be directed to, and aparameter, which is the thing that is to be searched at that site. Auser may have instituted the action here by pressing a search button onthe device and then pressing a microphone button to indicate an intentto enter data by speaking rather than by typing.

Display 342 shows the direct result returned by the system in responseto the spoken input, without having first returned a list of searchresults to the user. Specifically, the system recognized (e.g., bymaking a comparison to a whitelist of terms) that the first word of thespoken query was a reserved carrier phrase for a category relating toautomatic redirection to web sites. The Wikipedia site would have beenon that list because it is a very popular site, particular for users whohave queries to obtain information on the web. Here, the content issummarized content from a landing page, and a selectable button isdisplayed so that the user can be taken to the actual landing page ifthey want more information. The summarized content, in certaininstances, can be generated by applying a template to the particularpage. In this example, many Wikipedia pages follow a common format, sothat the system may be programmed to extract particular content from theWikipedia page in order to produce the summarized information. In otherinstances, the layout of a page may be analyzed by a system (e.g., bylooking at the document object model organization and/or at the valuesof particular HTML tags for a page), and the formatted information maybe generated by applying various rules to such information rather thanapplying a template.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot displayed in a process for automatically callinga search result. In particular, the dialog box 402 may be displayed inresponse to the computing device receiving search results that areresponsive to a query. The dialog box 402 displays information aboutthree search results 404, 406, and 408. In this illustration, the searchresult 404 for the “Pizza My Heart” restaurant in Palo Alto isdetermined by the computing device to be a most prominently ranked ofthe search results 404, 406, and 408. Thus, a process of automaticallycalling the Palo Alto Pizza My Heart Restaurant has been initiated.Specifically, the animated timer 410 is filling in a left-to-rightdirection. Substantially around a time that the timer 410 completelyfills, the telephone number 410 will be dialed.

The search result 404 includes an information interface element 412 anda cancel interface element 414. Selection of the information interfaceelement 412 may pause or terminate the calling of the restaurant, andcause the computing device to display additional content about therestaurant (e.g., any combination of pictures, a map of the location,hours of operation, and an email address). Selection of the cancelbutton 414 may cause the search result 404 to disappear from the displayor collapse to a display that is similar to search results 406 and 408.

User selection of the search results 406 or 408 while the timer 404 iscounting and the search result 404 is expanded may cause additionalinformation to display for the search result that is selected. In someexamples, the search result 404 collapses and the selected search resultexpands. The expanded search result may appear similar to the display ofsearch result 404, but may or may not include a timer that countstowards a dialing of a telephone number.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot of a user interface that enables a user to submita query. The user interface includes a search query box 502.User-selection of the search query box 502 may enable the user to type atextual query into the box. In some examples, selection of the box 502causes a virtual keyboard to appear for display on the screen 504. Uponentering the textual query, the user may select the search button 506.Selection of the search button 506 may cause the computing device totransmit the textual query to a remote server system.

The user interface also includes a voice query button 508.User-selection of the voice query button 508 may cause the dialog box302 (FIG. 3A) to appear overlaid the interface displayed in FIG. 5. Insome examples, the dialog box 302 receives focus. A user may not be ableto interact with the graphical interface depicted in FIG. 5 unless thecancel button 303 is selected.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example system for automatically callinga telephone number for a search result. The system includes a firstcomputing device 602 that provides a query 604 to a server system 606.In response, the server system 606 returns search results 608 to thefirst computing device 602 or a second computing device 610.

In more detail, the first computing device 602 includes a query manager612. The query manager 612 performs operations for receiving a query andtransmitting the received query to the server system 606. For example,the query manager 612 may cause the search query box 502 and the voicequery button 508 to display on the mobile device. The query manager 612may receive text or vocal user-input and transmit a query based on thereceived input to the server system 606.

The server system 606 includes a location identifier 614. The locationidentifier 614 identifies a location of interest for the received query604. The location identifier 614 can perform this identification bydetermining words in the query 604 that correspond to a location.Location identifier 614 can additionally or alternatively identify alocation of interest for the received query 604 by identifying anestimated geographical location of the first computing device 602, asdetermined by the first computing device 602 and transmitted to theserver system 606.

The voice recognizer 624 receives digital information that representsrecorded audio, and converts the digital information to a textual query.For example, the query 604 may represent an audio recording of a voiceof a user of the first computing device 602. The voice recognizer 624may translate the audio recording into a probabilistically determinedtextual representation of the user's voice.

The server system 606 includes a query type identifier 616. The querytype identifier 616 determines whether the query is of a type that is tocause a computing device to automatically call a telephone number for asearch result, or of a type that is to cause the computing device to notautomatically call a telephone number and instead display searchresults. In some examples, a query that is to cause a computing deviceto automatically dial a telephone number is provided to a first searchengine 620, while other queries are sent to a second search engine 622.

An example component for determining the type of query is a carrierphrase identifier 618. The carrier phrase identifier 618 determineswhether or not the receive query 604 includes a carrier phrase. Forexample, and as described in greater detail above, the carrier phraseidentifier may determine if the first word of the query includes theword “Call.” In some instances, the carrier phrase identifier 618 doesnot identify a query as including a carrier phrase if the querycorresponds to a venue name, even though the query includes the word“Call.” For example, a query of “Call that Computer Guy” may beidentified by the query type identifier 616 as a query for acomputer-repair business that is named “Call that Computer Guy,” and nota query that causes a mobile computing device to automatically call atelephone number.

The query is sent to either the first search engine 620 or the secondsearch engine 622, based on the type of query as determined by the querytype identifier 616. The first search engine 620 may be a local searchengine 620 that receives the query and a location, and returns searchresults that are responsive to the query. The responsive search resultsmay be determined by weighting multiple signals, as described in moredetail below. Generally, a local search engine 620 may constrain theresults so that the search results that are displayed to a user arewithin a determined geographical distance of the location identified bythe location identifier 614. In other words, a query for “Call Palo AltoPizza Places” may not return a search result for a pizza place inMinnesota because Minnesota is farther than an example distance of fiftymiles.

The second search engine 622 may be a general content search engine. Ageneral content search engine may return results that are relevant tothe location identified by the location identifier 614, but the resultsmay not be constrained to a geography. For example, a query for “PizzaPlaces” when the first computing device 602 is in Palo Alto may returnsearch results that correspond to web pages for: (i) a human resourcesdepartment for a national pizza place, (ii) a pizza place in Minnesotathat has been in the news recently, and (iii) a pizza place that isclose to the estimated geographical location of the first computingdevice 602. Thus, the search results may not be constrained to alocation. Further, the second search engine 622 may return searchresults that correspond to web pages that are hosted by variousinformation providers, while the first search engine may return searchresults that correspond to web pages that are stored by a singleinformation provider (e.g., web pages in a directory of “venues” thateach have a corresponding geographical location).

The search result ranker 626 may rank search results based on varioussignals 628-636. The operations of the search result ranker 626 may beperformed by: (i) the first search engine 620 (e.g., a local searchengine), (ii) the server system 606 on search results that are returnedby the first search engine 620, or (iii) by the first computing device602. For example, the server system 606 may receive from the firstsearch engine 620 a list of search results that are each associated withvarious scores (e.g., based on distance and content). The search resultranker 626 may revise these scores based on the signals 628-636.

The hours of operation signal 628 may be used by the search resultranker 626 to more heavily weight those search results that includeinformation that indicates that a corresponding venue is presently openfor business. For example, should an individual query “Call Pizza Place”at 1:30 in the morning, the search result ranker may more heavily weightsearch results for those businesses that are presently open. Thus, themobile computing device 602 may be more likely to automatically call atelephone number for a business where an individual will answer thetelephone.

The language signal 630 may be used by the search result ranker 626 tomore heavily weight those search results that correspond to a languageof the query 604. A language of search results may be determined by thecontent of text associated with the search result (e.g., the text of awebpage or a description for a venue that corresponds to the searchresult). Also, one or more of the search results may have informationthat identifies a language that is spoken by individuals that answertelephone calls to a telephone number that corresponds to the searchresult. For example, a search result may be generated based on acomputer record for a venue. The record may store information indicatingthat the languages “English” and “French” are spoken by individuals thatanswer the telephone. Thus, the search result may not be scored as highfor a query that includes content in Spanish as for a query thatincludes content in English or French.

User feedback information 632 may also be used by the search resultranker 626 to modify scores for search results. For example, a usercalls signal 634 may modify a score for a search result based on usercall data for search results. For example, as users of mobile computingdevices submit queries that cause the mobile computing devices toautomatically call telephone numbers (e.g., as described in thisdocument), the search results that correspond to telephone numbers thatare successfully dialed may be weighted more heavily than telephonenumbers that are not successfully dialed (e.g., because users selected a“cancel” button during the automatic calling process instead of lettinga timer expire or selecting a “dial” button). The scores may be modifiedbased on calls by either a user of the first computing device 602, orbased on calls by users of multiple other computing devices.

In some examples, scores for search results are modified based on auser-supplied correction to the automatic calling process. For example,a user may query “Call Pizza Place” when the user is located in PaloAlto. The user's mobile telephone may automatically call Pizza My Heart,but the user may terminate the automatic call (e.g., by selecting a“cancel” button). In response the user may either: (i) enter a new query(e.g., “Call Frank's Pizza”), or (ii) select to call a telephone numberfor a “Frank's Pizza” search result that is displayed in response toselecting the “cancel” button. The search result corresponding to thenext dialed telephone number may be more heavily weighted for theoriginal “Call Pizza Place” query.

In various examples, scores for search results are modified based onuser-initiated telephone calls in response to a query that isindependent of an automatic calling process. For example, a user mayquery “Pizza Places” and be presented with a list of search results forweb pages of various pizza place related content. Next to one of thesearch results may be a link to dial a telephone number. User-selectionof this link may cause the search result to be more heavily favored insubsequent queries that cause an automatic calling process to occur—eventhough the search result may not have been displayed in response to aquery that caused an automatic calling process.

A user searches signal 636 may cause the search result ranker 626 toscore more heavily search results that are selected in response to usersearches. Continuing the above example where the user queried “PizzaPlaces,” the user may select multiple of the search results to view thecorresponding web pages for the search results (in some examples,without selecting to call any telephone numbers). These search results,or content identified within the search results, may be weighted moreheavily than other search results in response to a query that is forautomatically calling a telephone number. For example, if a displayedlist of search results includes two search results for different PaloAlto pizza places, and the user selects the search result for one of thelocal pizza places, a user that later queries “Call Pizza” while in PaloAlto may see his telephone automatically call the telephone number forthe selected search result (the search result scores otherwise beingequal).

A social network signal 638 may cause the search result ranker 626 toweight the user feedback 632 based on social network data. Socialnetwork data may include a social network graph that identifies: (i)individuals that have an acquaintance relationship, and (ii) a strengthof the relationship. For example, an acquaintance relationship may beformed if a user “friends” or “follows” another user on a socialnetwork. An acquaintance relationship may also be formed if a user is inanother user's electronic address book, or if one user calls or emailsthe other user. The strength of the relationship between users may bebased on a type of communication between the users, and a frequency ofthe communication. A social network “distance” between two users may bebased on how far apart the users are in the social network graph (e.g.,are the users “friends” or “friends of friends”), and a strength of theconnecting relationships.

The social network data 638 may be used to weight more heavily the userfeedback 632 that is performed by users in a social network that arecloser to a querying user. For example, data by the querying user's“friends” may be weighted the most heavily, while data by the queryingusers' “friends of friends of friends” may be weighted less heavily.Thus, if many of the querying user's friends have queried “Call Frank'sPizza,” the querying user may be more likely to see his telephoneautomatically call Frank's Pizza than Pizza My Heart in response to a“Call Pizza” query (the scores for each respective search resultotherwise being equal).

The dialing-device identifier 640 identifies the computing device thatis to automatically call the telephone number. The dialing-deviceidentifier 614 may look at settings that are stored for a firstcomputing device 602, or may look at the content of the query 604. As anillustration, suppose that an individual uses a laptop computer to loginto a search engine with a user account, and has indicated in settingsfor the search engine that the user account is associated with atelephone number for a mobile telephone. The user may type the query“Call Pizza Place” into a search box for the search engine, and pressthe enter button. The query may be sent to a server system, and theserver system may determine a most relevant search result for the query.The laptop may not be able to call telephone numbers, or the user mayprefer telephone calls on his mobile telephone, and thus the call may becompleted using the mobile telephone (e.g., the second computing device610).

For example, the server system may send information to the mobiletelephone 610 that causes the mobile telephone 610 to automatically callthe telephone number for the most relevant search result. For example,the mobile telephone may display one of various combinations of thescreenshots in FIGS. 3D-4. The display may be accompanied by an alert(e.g., the telephone ringing). In various examples, the server systeminitiates a call between the mobile telephone 610 and the telephonenumber for the search result. In such examples, the screenshots in FIGS.3D-4 are not displayed and the phone rings as normal. Upon answering thetelephone, a user may hear the other side ring, or may hear a voiceprompt (e.g., saying “Connecting you to Frank's Pizza Place”).

In various examples, the server system or the first computing device 602includes a prominence determiner 642. The prominence determiner maydetermined how strong a score for a most prominent search result is incomparison to the next most prominent search results. If the mostprominent search result is above a threshold, or differs by a determinedpercentage or score, the telephone number for the most prominent searchresult may be automatically called. If the most prominent search resulthas a score that is close to the score for the other search results, thesearch results may be provided in a list for selection by a user of themobile telephone 602 (and the most prominent search result may not beautomatically called). For example, a query for “Call Pizza My Heart”may be more likely to result in automatic calling than a query for “CallPizza.” Thus, users may be less likely to have their computing devicesautomatically call telephone numbers when the corresponding searchresult is not scored significantly higher than alternative searchresults.

The first computing device 602 may include an automatic caller 644. Theautomatic caller 644 may receive a single search result and institute aprocess for automatically calling a telephone number for the singlesearch result, or alternatively, receive multiple search results andinstitute a process for automatically calling a telephone number for amost-prominently ranked of the multiple search results. The automaticcaller 644 may include an timer 646 that institutes a delay until atelephone number is dialed by the first computing device 602. The timer646 may provide a visual depiction, for example, an animated sequencethat illustrates time remaining until the timer expires and thetelephone number is dialed. The automatic caller may also include adialing prompter 648. The dialing prompter 648 may display a prompt,where the displayed prompt is associated with functions that allow auser of the first computing device 602 to dial a telephone number with asingle-action user-input.

In some examples, the described communications between the firstcomputing device 602 and the server system 606 are performed as datatransfers over the internet. Thus, the communications may not occurduring a duplex voice communication over the public switched telephonenetwork. The server system may transmit the search results as non-voicealphanumeric data. Accordingly, the server system may not transmit voicedata to the first computing device 602 in response to receiving thequery 604. Indeed, in implementations where a text query is entered andthe textual query is transmitted to the server system, no voice data maybe exchanged between the first computing device 602 and the serversystem 606 between and including the sending of the query and the returnof the search results.

In some examples, the timer 646 is local to the first computing device602 and the server system 606 does not providing the timing for theautomatic calling. Thus, the server system 606 may provide one or moresearch results 608 to the first computing device 602, but may not beaware of a status of the automatic calling by the first computing device602 (e.g., a termination of the timer, a dialing of the telephonenumber, or a canceling of the automatic calling).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example process for automatic calling of asocial contact. In box 702, a query is received to dial a contact. As anillustration, a police officer on duty may need immediate assistance andpress a voice query input button on a mobile computing device and state“Connect to Nearest Officer.” In another illustration, a golf coursegroundskeeper may need help moving an object and may press a button on amobile computing device that is associated with connecting thegroundskeeper to a nearest other worker on the golf course. The queriesmay be input into the mobile computing device, transmitted to a serversystem, and received by the server system.

In box 704, contacts that are relevant to the query are identified. Theidentification may include determining a type of the query, for example,by identifying a carrier phrase in the query. In the above illustrationof the police officer, the phrase “Connect to” may be a carrier phrasethat identifies an action that is to be performed for an identifiedcontact. Example other carrier phrases may include “Leave Message For,”“Alert,” and “Send Text Message To.”

In box 706, a predefined group of contacts is identified. In someexamples, the predefined group of contacts is identified as a part ofthe query that accompanies the carrier phrase. Thus, in the query “CallLeast Busy Maintenance Worker,” the group of contacts may be identifiedby the words “Maintenance Worker.” The group of individuals associatedwith the group “Maintenance Worker” may be predefined. For example,dozens of maintenance workers for a university may carry mobilecomputing devices with them, and may be logged into user accounts with amessaging application. The maintenance workers may each have selected tobe associated with a group that is named “Maintenance Worker” or that isassociated with a query for the word “Maintenance Worker.”

In box 708, contacts in a social network are identified. For example, inthe query “Call closest social network friend,” the individuals thathave a friend relationship in a social network with the querying usermay be identified. As another example, a query for “Connect to closestsocial network relation” may cause an identification of individuals thatare related (e.g., such individuals may have a friend or a friend of afriend relationship with the querying individual).

In box 710, a relevant contact is selected. The contact may be selectedfrom the identified contacts. In some examples, the type of contactselected is based on a definition that is included in the query. Forexample, the query “Call Closest Maintenance Worker” includes thedefinition “Closest.” Thus, the relevant Maintenance Worker is theMaintenance worker that is the closest. A proximity of the closestmaintenance worker may be performed by a server system calculating adistance between the estimated geographical location of the queryingdevice (as uploaded to the server system) and the estimated geographicallocations of the devices for the maintenance workers (as uploaded to theserver systems periodically).

In other examples, the type of contact is not specified in the query.For example, the type of contact may be pre-associated with the carrierphrase (e.g., a “Call Maintenance Worker” query may automatically callthe closest maintenance worker. In other examples, an indication of thetype of contact is sent with the query (e.g., a “Call ClosestMaintenance Worker” button may be pressed at the mobile computing deviceand a signal indicating that the closest maintenance worker is to beselected may be transmitted to a server system).

In box 712, the selection of the relevant contact includes determining adistance to a contact. For example, the server system may compute thedistance between an estimated geographical location of a queryingcomputing device and each estimated geographical location for a devicethat is assigned to the identified group (e.g., each maintenanceworker's mobile computing device). In these examples, the estimatedgeographical locations may not be fixed locations for venues, butcoordinates for computing devices that move over time. The most relevantcontact may be selected as the contact that is associated with thecomputing device that is closest to the querying computing device.

In box 714, the selected contact is automatically called. The automaticcalling may be performed as described above with reference to FIGS. 1,3D-3F, and 6. In various examples, the prompt for the contact that isbeing automatically called may show the distance to the contact.

Accordingly, an individual may automatically telephone an individualthat is selected from one or more predetermined groups by specifying thegroup and optionally a definition of the individual to be selected. Theserver system may determine a contact that is responsive to the queryand may automatically call the contact.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a conceptual diagram of a system that may beused to implement the systems and methods described in this document isillustrated. Mobile computing device 910 can wirelessly communicate withbase station 940, which can provide the mobile computing device wirelessaccess to numerous services 960 through a network 950.

In this illustration, the mobile computing device 910 is depicted as ahandheld mobile telephone (e.g., a smartphone or an applicationtelephone) that includes a touchscreen display device 912 for presentingcontent to a user of the mobile computing device 910. The mobilecomputing device 910 includes various input devices (e.g., keyboard 914and touchscreen display device 912) for receiving user-input thatinfluences the operation of the mobile computing device 910. In furtherimplementations, the mobile computing device 910 may be a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, an embeddedsystem (e.g., a car navigation system), a desktop computer, or acomputerized workstation.

The mobile computing device 910 may include various visual, auditory,and tactile user-output mechanisms. An example visual output mechanismis display device 912, which can visually display video, graphics,images, and text that combine to provide a visible user interface. Forexample, the display device 912 may be a 3.7 inch AMOLED screen. Othervisual output mechanisms may include LED status lights (e.g., a lightthat blinks when a voicemail has been received).

An example tactile output mechanism is a small electric motor that isconnected to an unbalanced weight to provide a vibrating alert (e.g., tovibrate in order to alert a user of an incoming telephone call orconfirm user contact with the touchscreen 912). Further, the mobilecomputing device 910 may include one or more speakers 920 that convertan electrical signal into sound, for example, music, an audible alert,or voice of an individual in a telephone call.

An example mechanism for receiving user-input includes keyboard 914,which may be a full qwerty keyboard or a traditional keypad thatincludes keys for the digits ‘0-9’, ‘*’, and ‘#.’ The keyboard 914receives input when a user physically contacts or depresses a keyboardkey. User manipulation of a trackball 916 or interaction with a trackpadenables the user to supply directional and rate of rotation informationto the mobile computing device 910 (e.g., to manipulate a position of acursor on the display device 912).

The mobile computing device 910 may be able to determine a position ofphysical contact with the touchscreen display device 912 (e.g., aposition of contact by a finger or a stylus). Using the touchscreen 912,various “virtual” input mechanisms may be produced, where a userinteracts with a graphical user interface element depicted on thetouchscreen 912 by contacting the graphical user interface element. Anexample of a “virtual” input mechanism is a “software keyboard,” where akeyboard is displayed on the touchscreen and a user selects keys bypressing a region of the touchscreen 912 that corresponds to each key.

The mobile computing device 910 may include mechanical or touchsensitive buttons 918 a-d. Additionally, the mobile computing device mayinclude buttons for adjusting volume output by the one or more speakers920, and a button for turning the mobile computing device on or off. Amicrophone 922 allows the mobile computing device 910 to convert audiblesounds into an electrical signal that may be digitally encoded andstored in computer-readable memory, or transmitted to another computingdevice. The mobile computing device 910 may also include a digitalcompass, an accelerometer, proximity sensors, and ambient light sensors.

An operating system may provide an interface between the mobilecomputing device's hardware (e.g., the input/output mechanisms and aprocessor executing instructions retrieved from computer-readablemedium) and software. Example operating systems include the ANDROIDmobile device platform; APPLE IPHONE/MAC OS X operating systems;MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7/WINDOWS MOBILE operating systems; SYMBIAN operatingsystem; RIM BLACKBERRY operating system; PALM WEB operating system; avariety of UNIX-flavored operating systems; or a proprietary operatingsystem for computerized devices. The operating system may provide aplatform for the execution of application programs that facilitateinteraction between the computing device and a user.

The mobile computing device 910 may present a graphical user interfacewith the touchscreen 912. A graphical user interface is a collection ofone or more graphical interface elements and may be static (e.g., thedisplay appears to remain the same over a period of time), or may bedynamic (e.g., the graphical user interface includes graphical interfaceelements that animate without user input).

A graphical interface element may be text, lines, shapes, images, orcombinations thereof. For example, a graphical interface element may bean icon that is displayed on the desktop and the icon's associated text.In some examples, a graphical interface element is selectable withuser-input. For example, a user may select a graphical interface elementby pressing a region of the touchscreen that corresponds to a display ofthe graphical interface element. In some examples, the user maymanipulate a trackball to highlight a single graphical interface elementas having focus. User-selection of a graphical interface element mayinvoke a pre-defined action by the mobile computing device. In someexamples, selectable graphical interface elements further oralternatively correspond to a button on the keyboard 904. User-selectionof the button may invoke the pre-defined action.

In some examples, the operating system provides a “desktop” userinterface that is displayed upon turning on the mobile computing device910, activating the mobile computing device 910 from a sleep state, upon“unlocking” the mobile computing device 910, or upon receivinguser-selection of the “home” button 918 c. The desktop graphicalinterface may display several icons that, when selected with user-input,invoke corresponding application programs. An invoked applicationprogram may present a graphical interface that replaces the desktopgraphical interface until the application program terminates or ishidden from view.

User-input may manipulate a sequence of mobile computing device 910operations. For example, a single-action user input (e.g., a single tapof the touchscreen, swipe across the touchscreen, contact with a button,or combination of these at a same time) may invoke an operation thatchanges a display of the user interface. Without the user-input, theuser interface may not have changed at a particular time. For example, amulti-touch user input with the touchscreen 912 may invoke a mappingapplication to “zoom-in” on a location, even though the mappingapplication may have by default zoomed-in after several seconds.

The desktop graphical interface can also display “widgets.” A widget isone or more graphical interface elements that are associated with anapplication program that has been executed, and that display on thedesktop content controlled by the executing application program. Unlikean application program, which may not be invoked until a user selects acorresponding icon, a widget's application program may start with themobile telephone. Further, a widget may not take focus of the fulldisplay. Instead, a widget may only “own” a small portion of thedesktop, displaying content and receiving touchscreen user-input withinthe portion of the desktop.

The mobile computing device 910 may include one or morelocation-identification mechanisms. A location-identification mechanismmay include a collection of hardware and software that provides theoperating system and application programs an estimate of the mobiletelephone's geographical position. A location-identification mechanismmay employ satellite-based positioning techniques, base stationtransmitting antenna identification, multiple base stationtriangulation, internet access point IP location determinations,inferential identification of a user's position based on search enginequeries, and user-supplied identification of location (e.g., by“checking in” to a location).

The mobile computing device 910 may include other application modulesand hardware. A call handling unit may receive an indication of anincoming telephone call and provide a user capabilities to answer theincoming telephone call. A media player may allow a user to listen tomusic or play movies that are stored in local memory of the mobilecomputing device 910. The mobile telephone 910 may include a digitalcamera sensor, and corresponding image and video capture and editingsoftware. An internet browser may enable the user to view content from aweb page by typing in an addresses corresponding to the web page orselecting a link to the web page.

The mobile computing device 910 may include an antenna to wirelesslycommunicate information with the base station 940. The base station 940may be one of many base stations in a collection of base stations (e.g.,a mobile telephone cellular network) that enables the mobile computingdevice 910 to maintain communication with a network 950 as the mobilecomputing device is geographically moved. The computing device 910 mayalternatively or additionally communicate with the network 950 through aWi-Fi router or a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet, USB, or FIREWIRE).The computing device 910 may also wirelessly communicate with othercomputing devices using BLUETOOTH protocols, or may employ an ad-hocwireless network.

A service provider that operates the network of base stations mayconnect the mobile computing device 910 to the network 950 to enablecommunication between the mobile computing device 910 and othercomputerized devices that provide services 960. Although the services960 may be provided over different networks (e.g., the serviceprovider's internal network, the Public Switched Telephone Network, andthe Internet), network 950 is illustrated as a single network. Theservice provider may operate a server system 952 that routes informationpackets and voice data between the mobile computing device 910 andcomputing devices associated with the services 960.

The network 950 may connect the mobile computing device 910 to thePublic Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 962 in order to establish voiceor fax communication between the mobile computing device 910 and anothercomputing device. For example, the service provider server system 952may receive an indication from the PSTN 962 of an incoming call for themobile computing device 910. Conversely, the mobile computing device 910may send a communication to the service provider server system 952initiating a telephone call with a telephone number that is associatedwith a device accessible through the PSTN 962.

The network 950 may connect the mobile computing device 910 with a Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) service 964 that routes voicecommunications over an IP network, as opposed to the PSTN. For example,a user of the mobile computing device 910 may invoke a VoIP applicationand initiate a call using the program. The service provider serversystem 952 may forward voice data from the call to a VoIP service, whichmay route the call over the internet to a corresponding computingdevice, potentially using the PSTN for a final leg of the connection.

An application store 966 may provide a user of the mobile computingdevice 910 the ability to browse a list of remotely stored applicationprograms that the user may download over the network 950 and install onthe mobile computing device 910. The application store 966 may serve asa repository of applications developed by third-party applicationdevelopers. An application program that is installed on the mobilecomputing device 910 may be able to communicate over the network 950with server systems that are designated for the application program. Forexample, a VoIP application program may be downloaded from theApplication Store 966, enabling the user to communicate with the VoIPservice 964.

The mobile computing device 910 may access content on the internet 968through network 950. For example, a user of the mobile computing device910 may invoke a web browser application that requests data from remotecomputing devices that are accessible at designated universal resourcelocations. In various examples, some of the services 960 are accessibleover the internet.

The mobile computing device may communicate with a personal computer970. For example, the personal computer 970 may be the home computer fora user of the mobile computing device 910. Thus, the user may be able tostream media from his personal computer 970. The user may also view thefile structure of his personal computer 970, and transmit selecteddocuments between the computerized devices.

A voice recognition service 972 may receive voice communication datarecorded with the mobile computing device's microphone 922, andtranslate the voice communication into corresponding textual data. Insome examples, the translated text is provided to a search engine as aweb query, and responsive search engine search results are transmittedto the mobile computing device 910.

The mobile computing device 910 may communicate with a social network974. The social network may include numerous members, some of which haveagreed to be related as acquaintances. Application programs on themobile computing device 910 may access the social network 974 toretrieve information based on the acquaintances of the user of themobile computing device. For example, an “address book” applicationprogram may retrieve telephone numbers for the user's acquaintances. Invarious examples, content may be delivered to the mobile computingdevice 910 based on social network distances from the user to othermembers. For example, advertisement and news article content may beselected for the user based on a level of interaction with such contentby members that are “close” to the user (e.g., members that are“friends” or “friends of friends”).

The mobile computing device 910 may access a personal set of contacts976 through network 950. Each contact may identify an individual andinclude information about that individual (e.g., a phone number, anemail address, and a birthday). Because the set of contacts is hostedremotely to the mobile computing device 910, the user may access andmaintain the contacts 976 across several devices as a common set ofcontacts.

The mobile computing device 910 may access cloud-based applicationprograms 978. Cloud-computing provides application programs (e.g., aword processor or an email program) that are hosted remotely from themobile computing device 910, and may be accessed by the device 910 usinga web browser or a dedicated program. Example cloud-based applicationprograms include GOOGLE DOCS word processor and spreadsheet service,GOOGLE GMAIL webmail service, and PICASA picture manager.

Mapping service 980 can provide the mobile computing device 910 withstreet maps, route planning information, and satellite images. Anexample mapping service is GOOGLE MAPS. The mapping service 980 may alsoreceive queries and return location-specific results. For example, themobile computing device 910 may send an estimated location of the mobilecomputing device and a user-entered query for “pizza places” to themapping service 980. The mapping service 980 may return a street mapwith “markers” superimposed on the map that identify geographicallocations of nearby “pizza places.”

Turn-by-turn service 982 may provide the mobile computing device 910with turn-by-turn directions to a user-supplied destination. Forexample, the turn-by-turn service 982 may stream to device 910 astreet-level view of an estimated location of the device, along withdata for providing audio commands and superimposing arrows that direct auser of the device 910 to the destination.

Various forms of streaming media 984 may be requested by the mobilecomputing device 910. For example, computing device 910 may request astream for a pre-recorded video file, a live television program, or alive radio program. Example services that provide streaming mediainclude YOUTUBE and PANDORA.

A micro-blogging service 986 may receive from the mobile computingdevice 910 a user-input post that does not identify recipients of thepost. The micro-blogging service 986 may disseminate the post to othermembers of the micro-blogging service 986 that agreed to subscribe tothe user.

A search engine 988 may receive user-entered textual or verbal queriesfrom the mobile computing device 910, determine a set ofinternet-accessible documents that are responsive to the query, andprovide to the device 910 information to display a list of searchresults for the responsive documents. In examples where a verbal queryis received, the voice recognition service 972 may translate thereceived audio into a textual query that is sent to the search engine.

These and other services may be implemented in a server system 990. Aserver system may be a combination of hardware and software thatprovides a service or a set of services. For example, a set ofphysically separate and networked computerized devices may operatetogether as a logical server system unit to handle the operationsnecessary to offer a service to hundreds of individual computingdevices.

In various implementations, operations that are performed “in response”to another operation (e.g., a determination or an identification) arenot performed if the prior operation is unsuccessful (e.g., if thedetermination was not performed). Features in this document that aredescribed with conditional language may describe implementations thatare optional. In some examples, “transmitting” from a first device to asecond device includes the first device placing data into a network, butmay not include the second device receiving the data. Conversely,“receiving” from a first device may include receiving the data from anetwork, but may not include the first device transmitting the data.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of computing devices 1000, 1050 that may beused to implement the systems and methods described in this document, aseither a client or as a server or plurality of servers. Computing device1000 is intended to represent various forms of digital computers, suchas laptops, desktops, workstations, personal digital assistants,servers, blade servers, mainframes, and other appropriate computers.Computing device 1050 is intended to represent various forms of mobiledevices, such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones,smartphones, and other similar computing devices. Additionally computingdevice 1000 or 1050 can include Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drives.The USB flash drives may store operating systems and other applications.The USB flash drives can include input/output components, such as awireless transmitter or USB connector that may be inserted into a USBport of another computing device. The components shown here, theirconnections and relationships, and their functions, are meant to beexemplary only, and are not meant to limit implementations describedand/or claimed in this document.

Computing device 1000 includes a processor 1002, memory 1004, a storagedevice 1006, a high-speed interface 1008 connecting to memory 1004 andhigh-speed expansion ports 1010, and a low speed interface 1012connecting to low speed bus 1014 and storage device 1006. Each of thecomponents 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008, 1010, and 1012, are interconnectedusing various busses, and may be mounted on a common motherboard or inother manners as appropriate. The processor 1002 can processinstructions for execution within the computing device 1000, includinginstructions stored in the memory 1004 or on the storage device 1006 todisplay graphical information for a GUI on an external input/outputdevice, such as display 1016 coupled to high speed interface 1008. Inother implementations, multiple processors and/or multiple buses may beused, as appropriate, along with multiple memories and types of memory.Also, multiple computing devices 1000 may be connected, with each deviceproviding portions of the necessary operations (e.g., as a server bank,a group of blade servers, or a multi-processor system).

The memory 1004 stores information within the computing device 1000. Inone implementation, the memory 1004 is a volatile memory unit or units.In another implementation, the memory 1004 is a non-volatile memory unitor units. The memory 1004 may also be another form of computer-readablemedium, such as a magnetic or optical disk.

The storage device 1006 is capable of providing mass storage for thecomputing device 1000. In one implementation, the storage device 1006may be or contain a computer-readable medium, such as a floppy diskdevice, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or a tape device, aflash memory or other similar solid state memory device, or an array ofdevices, including devices in a storage area network or otherconfigurations. A computer program product can be tangibly embodied inan information carrier. The computer program product may also containinstructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such asthose described above. The information carrier is a computer- ormachine-readable medium, such as the memory 1004, the storage device1006, or memory on processor 1002.

The high speed controller 1008 manages bandwidth-intensive operationsfor the computing device 1000, while the low speed controller 1012manages lower bandwidth-intensive operations. Such allocation offunctions is exemplary only. In one implementation, the high-speedcontroller 1008 is coupled to memory 1004, display 1016 (e.g., through agraphics processor or accelerator), and to high-speed expansion ports1010, which may accept various expansion cards (not shown). In theimplementation, low-speed controller 1012 is coupled to storage device1006 and low-speed expansion port 1014. The low-speed expansion port,which may include various communication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth,Ethernet, wireless Ethernet) may be coupled to one or more input/outputdevices, such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a scanner, or anetworking device such as a switch or router, e.g., through a networkadapter.

The computing device 1000 may be implemented in a number of differentforms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as astandard server 1020, or multiple times in a group of such servers. Itmay also be implemented as part of a rack server system 1024. Inaddition, it may be implemented in a personal computer such as a laptopcomputer 1022. Alternatively, components from computing device 1000 maybe combined with other components in a mobile device (not shown), suchas device 1050. Each of such devices may contain one or more ofcomputing device 1000, 1050, and an entire system may be made up ofmultiple computing devices 1000, 1050 communicating with each other.

Computing device 1050 includes a processor 1052, memory 1064, aninput/output device such as a display 1054, a communication interface1066, and a transceiver 1068, among other components. The device 1050may also be provided with a storage device, such as a microdrive orother device, to provide additional storage. Each of the components1050, 1052, 1064, 1054, 1066, and 1068, are interconnected using variousbuses, and several of the components may be mounted on a commonmotherboard or in other manners as appropriate.

The processor 1052 can execute instructions within the computing device1050, including instructions stored in the memory 1064. The processormay be implemented as a chipset of chips that include separate andmultiple analog and digital processors. Additionally, the processor maybe implemented using any of a number of architectures. For example, theprocessor 410 may be a CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computers)processor, a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor, or aMISC (Minimal Instruction Set Computer) processor. The processor mayprovide, for example, for coordination of the other components of thedevice 1050, such as control of user interfaces, applications run bydevice 1050, and wireless communication by device 1050.

Processor 1052 may communicate with a user through control interface1058 and display interface 1056 coupled to a display 1054. The display1054 may be, for example, a TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid CrystalDisplay) display or an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, orother appropriate display technology. The display interface 1056 maycomprise appropriate circuitry for driving the display 1054 to presentgraphical and other information to a user. The control interface 1058may receive commands from a user and convert them for submission to theprocessor 1052. In addition, an external interface 1062 may be providein communication with processor 1052, so as to enable near areacommunication of device 1050 with other devices. External interface 1062may provide, for example, for wired communication in someimplementations, or for wireless communication in other implementations,and multiple interfaces may also be used.

The memory 1064 stores information within the computing device 1050. Thememory 1064 can be implemented as one or more of a computer-readablemedium or media, a volatile memory unit or units, or a non-volatilememory unit or units. Expansion memory 1074 may also be provided andconnected to device 1050 through expansion interface 1072, which mayinclude, for example, a SIMM (Single In Line Memory Module) cardinterface. Such expansion memory 1074 may provide extra storage spacefor device 1050, or may also store applications or other information fordevice 1050. Specifically, expansion memory 1074 may includeinstructions to carry out or supplement the processes described above,and may include secure information also. Thus, for example, expansionmemory 1074 may be provide as a security module for device 1050, and maybe programmed with instructions that permit secure use of device 1050.In addition, secure applications may be provided via the SIMM cards,along with additional information, such as placing identifyinginformation on the SIMM card in a non-hackable manner.

The memory may include, for example, flash memory and/or NVRAM memory,as discussed below. In one implementation, a computer program product istangibly embodied in an information carrier. The computer programproduct contains instructions that, when executed, perform one or moremethods, such as those described above. The information carrier is acomputer- or machine-readable medium, such as the memory 1064, expansionmemory 1074, or memory on processor 1052 that may be received, forexample, over transceiver 1068 or external interface 1062.

Device 1050 may communicate wirelessly through communication interface1066, which may include digital signal processing circuitry wherenecessary. Communication interface 1066 may provide for communicationsunder various modes or protocols, such as GSM voice calls, SMS, EMS, orMMS messaging, CDMA, TDMA, PDC, WCDMA, CDMA2000, or GPRS, among others.Such communication may occur, for example, through radio-frequencytransceiver 1068. In addition, short-range communication may occur, suchas using a Bluetooth, WiFi, or other such transceiver (not shown). Inaddition, GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver module 1070 mayprovide additional navigation- and location-related wireless data todevice 1050, which may be used as appropriate by applications running ondevice 1050.

Device 1050 may also communicate audibly using audio codec 1060, whichmay receive spoken information from a user and convert it to usabledigital information. Audio codec 1060 may likewise generate audiblesound for a user, such as through a speaker, e.g., in a handset ofdevice 1050. Such sound may include sound from voice telephone calls,may include recorded sound (e.g., voice messages, music files, etc.) andmay also include sound generated by applications operating on device1050.

The computing device 1050 may be implemented in a number of differentforms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as acellular telephone 1080. It may also be implemented as part of asmartphone 1082, personal digital assistant, or other similar mobiledevice.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here canbe realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits),computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.These various implementations can include implementation in one or morecomputer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processor, whichmay be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storagesystem, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, softwareapplications or code) include machine instructions for a programmableprocessor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/orobject-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machinelanguage. As used herein, the terms “machine-readable medium”“computer-readable medium” refers to any computer program product,apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory,Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructionsand/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readablemedium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal.The term “machine-readable signal” refers to any signal used to providemachine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.

To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniquesdescribed here can be implemented on a computer having a display device(e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor)for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointingdevice (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by which the user can provideinput to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide forinteraction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to theuser can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback,auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can bereceived in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in acomputing system that includes a back end component (e.g., as a dataserver), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an applicationserver), or that includes a front end component (e.g., a client computerhaving a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a usercan interact with an implementation of the systems and techniquesdescribed here), or any combination of such back end, middleware, orfront end components. The components of the system can be interconnectedby any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., acommunication network). Examples of communication networks include alocal area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), peer-to-peernetworks (having ad-hoc or static members), grid computinginfrastructures, and the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

Although a few implementations have been described in detail above,other modifications are possible. Moreover, other mechanisms forperforming the systems and methods described in this document may beused. In addition, the logic flows depicted in the figures do notrequire the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achievedesirable results. Other steps may be provided, or steps may beeliminated, from the described flows, and other components may be addedto, or removed from, the described systems. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computerprogram comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause acomputer to perform operations comprising: receiving, by a mobiledevice, a voice input; encoding, by the mobile device, the voice inputin an audio signal; identifying, by the mobile device, informationeither identifying a current location of the mobile device or usable todetermine a current location of the mobile device; submitting, by themobile device, the audio signal and the information to a search engine,as part of a voice query, receiving, by the mobile device and from thesearch engine, a search engine results page that identifies multiplesearch results in response to the voice query; identifying, by themobile device, a telephone number associated with a particular one ofthe search results identified on the search engine results page;automatically placing, by the mobile device, a telephone call using thetelephone number, without requiring a user of the mobile device toselect the particular search result from among the multiple searchresults identified on the search engine results page.
 2. The medium ofclaim 1, comprising displaying on the search engine results page anotification indicating that the telephone number is to be dialed unlessa cancel control on the search engine results page is selected.
 3. Themedium of claim 1, comprising: determining that an automatic callingcontrol has been selected; and in response to determining that theautomatic calling control has been selected, determining that multiplesearch results that are responsive to the voice query are to beevaluated as candidates for automatic calling.
 4. The medium of claim 1,comprising displaying an animated countdown timer that illustrates anamount of time that is left until the telephone call will beautomatically placed.
 5. The medium of claim 1, wherein submitting theaudio signal comprises submitting a signal that the voice query is alocal search query.
 6. A method comprising: determining a location of acomputing device; submitting, with a voice query, data identifying thelocation of the computing device, and a signal that indicates thatsearch results that are responsive the voice query are to be evaluatedas candidates for automatic calling; receiving the search results thatare responsive to the voice query, and telephone number for a particularsearch result; displaying the particular search result prominently amongthe search results that are displayed on a search engine results page;determining that a user has confirmed dialing, or has not cancelleddialing, of the telephone number, through interaction with the searchengine results page; and dialing the telephone number based ondetermining that the user has confirmed dialing, or has not cancelleddialing, through interaction with the search engine results page.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, wherein determining that a user has confirmed dialingcomprises determining that the user has selected a dial control on thesearch engine results page.
 8. The method of claim 6, whereindetermining that the user has not cancelled dialing comprisesdetermining that the user has not selected a cancel control on acountdown timer displayed on the search engine results page.
 9. Themethod of claim 6, wherein determining that a user has confirmeddialing, or has not cancelled dialing, comprises determining that,between a time when the voice query is submitted and a time when theparticular search results are displayed, that no additional user inputis received.
 10. The method of claim 6, wherein displaying theparticular search result comprises displaying a notification indicatingthat the telephone number is to be dialed unless a cancel control on thesearch engine results page is selected.
 11. The method of claim 6,comprising: determining that an automatic calling control has beenselected; and in response to determining that the automatic callingcontrol has been selected, generating the signal that indicates thatsearch results that are responsive to the voice query are to beevaluated as candidates for automatic calling.
 12. A smartphonecomprising: a network interface configured to receive multiple searchresults and automatic redirection information from a local searchengine; a display configured to display multiple search results; and anautomatic redirection module configured to automatically redirect a userof the mobile device using the automatic redirection informationreceived from the local search engine.
 13. The smartphone of claim 12,wherein the display is configured to display an animated countdown timerthat illustrates an amount of time that is left until the user of themobile device will be automatically redirected using the automaticredirection information.
 14. The smartphone of claim 12, comprising auser interface configured to receive a voice query, wherein the networkinterface is configured to transmit the voice query to the local searchengine.
 15. The smartphone of claim 12, comprising a location engineconfigured to determine a location of the smartphone, wherein thenetwork interface is configured to transmit information identifying thelocation of the smartphone to the local search engine.
 16. Thesmartphone of claim 12, wherein the automatic redirection informationcomprises a telephone number, an email address, or a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL).
 17. The smartphone of claim 12, wherein the automaticredirection module is configured to automatically redirect the user ofthe mobile device without requiring the user to indicate that theautomatic redirection is to occur.
 18. A computer-implemented methodcomprising: determining, by one or more servers, that textualrepresentation of a spoken phrase includes one or more keywords that areassociated with automatic dialing; in response to determining that thetextual representation includes the keywords, submitting, by the one ormore servers, the textual representation of the spoken phrase to ageographic search engine; receiving, by the one or more servers, one ormore responsive search results from the geographic search engineselecting, by the one or more servers, contact information associatedwith a particular search result; and providing, by the one or moreservers and to a mobile device, an instruction to automatically initiatecommunication using the selected contact information.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein providing an instruction comprises providing aninstruction to initiate communication using the selected contactinformation without waiting for a user of the mobile device to confirmthat communication is to be initiated.
 20. The method of claim 18,wherein the contact information comprises a telephone number, and theinstruction instructs the mobile device to automatically place atelephone call using the telephone number.
 21. The method of claim 18,wherein the contact information comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier(URI), and the instruction instructs the mobile device to automaticallydirect a web browser to a web site associated with the URI.
 22. Themethod of claim 18, wherein the contact information comprises an emailaddress, and the instruction instructs the mobile device toautomatically compose an email to the email address.
 23. The method ofclaim 18, wherein submitting the textual representation comprisessubmitting the textual representation to a geographic search engineinstead of to a general search engine.
 24. The method of claim 18,comprising: filtering the keywords from the textual representation,wherein submitting the textual representation comprises submitting thefiltered textual representation.
 25. The method of claim 18, wherein theone or more servers comprise a local search engine.
 26. The method ofclaim 18, comprising providing, by the one or more servers, a searchengine results page for display on the mobile device, wherein the searchengine results page includes a notification indicating thatcommunication will automatically be initiated using the selected contactinformation unless a cancel control on the search engine results page isselected.
 27. The method of claim 18, comprising providing, by the oneor more servers, a search engine results page for display on the mobiledevice, wherein the search engine results page includes a countdowntimer that illustrates an amount of time that is left until thecommunication is automatically initiated.
 28. The method of claim 18,comprising receiving, by the one or more servers, (i) an audio signalthat corresponds to the spoken phrase, and (ii) a signal indicating thatthe audio signal is to be processed as a local search query.
 29. Themethod of claim 18, wherein selecting the particular search resultcomprises selecting a highest ranked of the responsive search results.30. The method of claim 18, wherein selecting the particular searchresult comprises selecting a responsive search result that is not ahighest ranked of the responsive search results.